Arduino for Kids

Priya Kuber, Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar, Vijay Varada

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781785882227
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Science General
• Index: Computer Science

A cool guide to help kids develop robots and electronicsAbout This Book• Get clearly-written code with descriptions and comments that explain each code section• The book comes with separate code files, one entire program at a time, as well as many diagrams and separate downloadable files that contain colored photos explaining steps in the book• Kids can build multiple projects during the course of the book; by the end, they will have working projects of their ownWho This Book Is ForThis book is for children aged 9 and up, and their parents, who may or may not have a technical background. This book is tailored around the central idea of introducing electronics as a fun and a curiosity-inducing exercise. This book can act as a bonding exercise between parent and child over a single weekend.What You Will Learn• Write simple programs using variables, functions, loops, arrays, and libraries• Set up the Arduino and understand its internal functioning• Get to grips with connections in electronics and arrive at ways to connect various components yourself• Delve into various sensors and their selection and build your own sensor• Unravel the concept of resistors and capacitors along with understanding the physics of electronics• Become an inventor through interactive exercises (such as making a friend happy with a proximity sensor, and giving "life" to a plant)In DetailThe mission of this book is to integrate technology with the tools that children already use for crafts so that they feel that the technology is an extension of their playtime. We use coding, sensors, and micro-controllers integrated with art and craft supplies, origami, and Playdough. There are 10 fun-filled chapters that talk to children directly, and give clear instructions for non-technical parents too.We use Arduino as the controller of choice due to its easy availability and large community. By the end of the book, children will comfortably be able to set up their Arduino, read and understand code, manipulate code, and ultimately write their own code for projects. They will also be able to use basic sensors and know how components connect to each other. All the learning takes place with lots of colorful pictures and the circuits are neatly presented using wiring.Style and approachThis book will show you the glamour of common and easily available sensors, so that kids and parents waste no time searching for parts. We provide simple yet fun projects with step-by-step instructions that make it easy to get hands-on.

Arduino for Kids

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Arduino for Kids

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: March 2017

Production reference: 1210317

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78588-481-8

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Authors Priya Kuber Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar Vijay Varada	Copy Editor Manisha Sinha
Reviewers Avik Dhupar Rubén Oliva Ramos	Project Coordinator Nidhi Joshi
Commissioning Editor Veena Pagare	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Tushar Gupta	Indexer Tejal Daruwale Soni
Content Development Editor Manthan Raja	Graphics Tania Dutta
Technical Editor Danish Shaikh	Production Coordinator Aparna Bhagat

Foreword

Willy Wonka was whom I wanted to be when I grew up, everything about him appealed to me - here you had a grown up who was tinkering around in his own factory creating new inventions - what made it even better was that his inventions were candies. I learnt coding in school, I started living part of my Willy Wonka dream by creating games in C++, as I created more of these technological 'candies' I realized that all of them were trapped inside this box of a computer. I would imagine what if you could unleash this computer from this box and let it out in the open, what if it could be free and everything would be a computer. Around this time a friend introduced me to the Arduino and I couldn't believe this small inexpensive piece of circuitry - it was more like magical wizardry, you see I grew up in the 90s when the fastest computer I had ever seen was much slower than the cheapest smartphone you can buy today. But more than anything, with the Arduino my ideas wouldn't anymore be limited to the computer screen but they could reach out into the real world - this new reality opened a pandora's box of innovative ideas and possibilities, some of which have made their way to the market thanks to Arduino's easy accessibility. It's been more than a decade since I was introduced to the Arduino, but I still use it to this day whenever I start with a new idea, it has become my 'Chocolate Factory'.

- Dhairya Dand

Principal

oDD, a futurist factory and lab

During the early 2009s Lechal was just an idea, to help navigate the blind from one place to another. We wanted to use vibrations as a medium to guide the blind. The human cognition, esp in the blind is complex, and very different from sighted people. It took us more than 25/30 product iterations to Lechal where it is right now. I came from a background of design and electronics, and found nothing as simple and modular as Arduino-Lilypad back in those days: It all started with this schematic, and prototype.

Even till the later stages of development, Arduino was the first tool we used to take ideas beyond the whiteboard.

As a new spinoff, Even the work that we're doing with present Arduino as Team Graviky, we utlize Arduino to prototype our ideas, and iterate fast. Arduino not only works well during our prototyping, but serves as a good manufacturing benchmark when we custom design our capture units, used to capture pollution.

- Anirudh Sharma

MIT spinoff Graviky Labs Pvt. Ltd.

About the Authors

Priya Kuber, is the first Indian woman to set up an open hardware company in India. At the age of 24, she was the founding CEO of Arduino India with a mission to empower students with the knowledge and tools to bring their creative ideas to life. She discovered Arduino in the year 2009 and has since contributed at several levels, including documentation, maintaining their official, blog and teaching workshops in rapid prototyping using Arduino, all across India. She has also won several hackathons and has mentored several winning teams. She now lives in San Francisco and works full-time on creating secure and impactful wearable technology. She is also the recipient of Silicon Valley’s prestigious Rajeev Circle Fellowship and has given talks all around the world including at TEDx.

Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar is a creative technologist who likes to work at the intersection of design and technology. He is an Intel software innovator, Arduino maker fellow, a volunteer at Random Hacks Of Kindness, also Campus Diaries 25 under 25- Science & Tech. When he is not tinkering with technology and storytelling, he spends time building new modules for students that help fuel their curiosity and build their innovation muscle.

Vijay Varada is an artist, engineer, and entrepreneur whose motto is, create positive change in the world through art, design and technology for sustainable and exponential development and progress. He is the CEO, and cofounder of Fracktal Works, which is engaged with design and research in the field of additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, and product design with its line of desktop and industrial 3D printers aimed at using the technology to empower the abilities of students, engineers, designers, and industries. Vijay actively contributes to open source hardware projects, particularly assistive technologies for the blind.

About the Reviewers

Avik Dhupar is a hardware hacker and technology designer. He has been making and breaking circuits and toys ever since he was a kid. He was introduced to Arduino at a pretty young age, ...

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• Arduino for Kids